My wife was the news editor of the weekly county newspaper in the town where we lived shortly after we were married. This is also the county where we grew up. As news editor of a county paper, she was the primary reporter for almost all newsworthy items. She covered city and county government meetings, high school sports events, fires, emergencies, and other various happenings. She was also the face of the paper for many people. Whenever a group wanted to recognize the paper in appreciation for its coverage of their activities, my wife was invited. I tagged along with her to many of these events.
The local senior citizens center was having an appreciation cookout for organizations and businesses that give it support. The newspaper was invited, and my wife was going to represent the paper. We ate the tasty hamburgers and hot dogs. They also made speeches to say thanks to the guests of honor. The highlight of the evening was a musical performance by one of our neighbors who I will refer to as Mrs. P.
I had never heard Mrs. P. play guitar or sing. The only reason I knew that she played at all was because my wife had taken guitar lessons from her when she was a child. My wife only took the lessons because her grandmother had gotten them for her. And Mrs. P. wasn’t the kind of person who would inspire others to play guitar.
Mrs. P. did a fine job of playing and singing. Her guitar skills were not outstanding but adequate. Similarly, her vocals were not strong but loud enough for the audience. And everything was in tune. The most noteworthy part of the performance was her set list. It was a bizarre collection of songs that didn’t seem to go together. The first odd song in the setlist was Bad Bad Leroy Brown. I understand that this is a song that’s easy to play with a good sing-along chorus. But it the chorus contained the lyric “Baddest man in the whole damn town”. Mrs. P. knew her audience wouldn’t like hearing her say damn so she changed the lyrics to “Baddest man in the whole downtown”. The audience knew the song, but they could all rest easier knowing Mrs. P. didn’t say “damn” although most of them probably said “damn” when they were singing along.
Knowing your audience is always important. Sing-along songs are good crowd pleasers, so it was not a surprise when Mrs. P. lead them in a few choruses of You Are My Sunshine. I don’t remember all of the songs Mrs. P. sang that night but two more that she sang back to back stand out. The first of these was the religious pop song Put Your Hand in the Hand. Again, this song had a good sing-along chorus and religious songs for an older crowd always seem to please. Never mind that this song had not aged well in the 20+ years since it had been a hit. It seems as much of a relic of the early 70’s as The Brady Bunch. This would not have seemed like such an odd choice to play if she hadn’t followed it with Loretta Lynn’s Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ On Your Mind). This is the point when I knew this performance was memorable. Would anyone other that Mrs. P. have the foresight to include these songs in their setlist:
Bad Bad Leroy Brown
You Are My Sunshine
Put Your Hand in the Hand
Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ On Your Mind)
Especially if you are playing those last two songs back to back. That should only happen if you are taking requests. And she wasn’t.